Robert Fruchtman Profile picture
I read housing bills.
Feb 24 23 tweets 5 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a community meeting for 633 Arguello, a housing project being proposed using the newly minted Constraints Reduction Act. The meeting is also being held at 633 Arguello. Toby Morris, the architect, is presenting in a hybrid format. Image The project sponsor is an owner-builder-developer who wants to demolish a duplex to build a fourplex. Morris says the mayor is trying to expedite housing in some areas. Mayor wants to encourage development to remove Planning Commission hearings for "this very kind of project" Image
Dec 14, 2023 143 tweets 23 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a meeting of the SF Board of Appeals. I am here for an absolutely wild case in which it looks like the City is quite definitely violating the Housing Accountability Act: 1228 Funston St. Image A very brief summary: The case involves a permit to legalize an unauthorized unit, add an ADU + horizontal addition, and change the façade. SF Planning initiated a Discretionary Review of this permit application. The Planning Commission then imposed conditions on the permit... Image
Nov 29, 2023 22 tweets 8 min read
I have found HCD's corrective action letter to San Francisco. Some quick thoughts. Image The first page of the letter says SF has failed to implement required actions 1.2, 1.4, and 1.10 from Housing Policy and Practice Review. SF has also failed to implement housing element action 8.4.5 by July 31. Relevant text attached here.


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Jul 27, 2023 97 tweets 14 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a Board of Appeals hearing for an appeal of the Planning Department's proposed amendment to the Planning Code that would stop the 2700 Sloat housing project—a.k.a. the Sunset Tower. Image Teague says this project started as a HOME-SF project [local density bonus program] originally, and it's not anymore.

Teague confirms that the issue is related to the interpretation of Planning Code sections 102 and 270.
May 25, 2023 39 tweets 7 min read
Hello San Francisco, I'm at the Park Branch Library attending a pre-application meeting for a housing project at…hold, what's this address? 1846 Grove St? Is that…? Image Yes, it's the same project that was cut in half from four units to two by Supervisor Preston at a Board of Supervisors appeal hearing!

Nov 15, 2022 173 tweets 28 min read
Good afternoon, San Francisco. I am attending a hearing at the Board of Supervisors on the 2022 housing element update. Supervisor Mar says, "I expect this to be a long hearing." He called for the hearing along with Supervisor Melgar and Supervisor Stefani. Mar says it's critical that we pass a compliant housing element to keep millionds of $$$ in affordable housing and local control. "The gauntlet the state has thrown our way is immense, but I'm confident we'll rise to the ocassion."
Sep 18, 2022 24 tweets 10 min read
Recent news out of San Francisco suggests even greater trouble for the housing element. Since the August review by HCD was delivered, one thing has become increasingly clear—

A significant number of supervisors don't care what @California_HCD thinks. Let's start with Aaron Peskin, supervisor for D3. While he has spoken little on the subject, the Chronicle reported last month that his former land use legislative aide considered HCD to be agents of the real estate industry.

sfchronicle.com/sf/article/hou…
Sep 9, 2022 100 tweets 14 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a meeting of the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council. Calvin Welch is speaking about housing in San Francisco. I arrived a little late but I'll pick up.

Welch: we're now in a process that could be politely called the deregulation of real estate. He compares it to deregulation of energy in CA. "We're about to see the results of deregulation of real estate development... principally market-rate."
Jun 23, 2022 98 tweets 18 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a Planning Commission hearing about “development trends and projections.” This hearing comes on the heels of an SF Chronicle story that applications for new housing projects are way down
sfchronicle.com/sf/article/new…
Mar 15, 2022 89 tweets 15 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending an appeal of 3832 18th St at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. A guy named Thanos is appealing a Planning Commission approval of a six-story group housing project. This is a state density bonus law project. You may recall this parcel from a couple other meetings I've attended:



Jan 8, 2022 70 tweets 10 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending SF YIMBY's housing debate for Assembly District 17. Laura Foote is introducing the debate. She says this meeting will inform the upcoming membership endorsement process. She hands the meeting over to Brandon Powell, today's moderator. He introduces the format and says the first question comes from "a special guest" and mentions the one-rebuttal-per-candidate rule for the debate.
Aug 27, 2021 53 tweets 8 min read
Hello California. I'm attending a meeting about the Californians for Community Choice Initiative. They're submitting a ballot initiative to strip the state of zoning control. Bill Brand says this initiative has been crafted in response to SB 9 and SB 10. He says they're not against development, they're in favor of affordable housing. He asks if Sacramento is better for zoning than local jurisdictions.
Aug 27, 2021 83 tweets 13 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a community meeting hosted by the SF Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. HSH is proposing to buy the Buchanan Hotel in Japantown (District 5) and covert it to 131 units of permanent supportive housing. There is already some opposition. The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California released a statement which read, in part, "It’s unconscionable for the [seller] to put Japantown in the middle of the homeless program debate." rafu.com/2021/08/jcccnc…
Aug 26, 2021 10 tweets 2 min read
The Planning Commission is holding a meeting on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Potrero Yard project, which would build homes/commercial space over a rebuilt bus maintenance yard.

The DEIR says that building homes would have more impacts than a project w/o them. 🙃 The CEQA outreach process has been going on for a full year at this point 🙃
Aug 26, 2021 102 tweets 17 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a community meeting hosted by the SF Department of Homelessness and Supportive housing for the acquisition of 5630 Mission St, to convert the building to 52 permanent supportive housing units. Supervisor Safaí is present. ImageImage Spanish, Cantonese, and Tagalog interpretation will be provided in different Zoom channels. Image
Jul 22, 2021 44 tweets 6 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a Planning Commission meeting for an application to convert 1525 Pine St, currently a one-story diner called Grubstake in the Polk Gulch, into a mixed-use building with 21 homes & a restaurant using the state density bonus. Planning Staff says the Housing Accountability Act applies and so findings of health and safety must be made if the project is to be denied. The opponents oppose on the basis of air, light, bulk, and density.
Jul 21, 2021 51 tweets 13 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending UCSF's July New Hospital Community Meeting, related to the design of the upcoming UCSF Parnassus campus remodel. Stuart Eckblad, their VP of Major Capital Construction Projects, says the community should be happy w/ updates to mass and size. Image Stuart Eckblad is turning the meeting over to Jason Frantzen with Herzog & de Meuron to discuss design and massing. ImageImage
Jul 15, 2021 93 tweets 15 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a meeting of the SF Planning Commission, to hear about 3832 18th St. The project needs a conditional use permit to demolish an SFH and use the state density bonus to build 19 units of group housing near the Castro/Upper Market neighborhood. This project has been in progress for a while. Here's the last meeting

Jul 14, 2021 129 tweets 19 min read
Hello San Francisco. I'm attending a meeting of the SF Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee meeting for the approval of a loan to @TNDC to build 100% affordable housing at 2550 Irving St. Jacob Noonan with Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development is presenting. The loan will be used by TNDC to acquire the parcel for the development and to perform pre-development activities.
Jul 1, 2021 13 tweets 5 min read
Cars are one of the most amazing and wonderful inventions in all of history. They serve us. They connect us. They liberate us.

The future should have lots more cars. Self-driving cars. Flying cars. Space cars! Cars are fantastic. Nothing else:

* Takes you directly from origin to destination
* Is available instantly on-demand
* Can carry a family and/or packages
* Protects you from the elements
* Is safe to use at night and in all weather

For convenience, practicality, and safety, cars are unbeatable.
Jan 12, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
At an SFBOS hearing, a public commenter just said that the University of California is trying to push through its environmental impact report for UCSF before anyone could read its 5,000 pages.

Gotta love CEQA? George Wooding (West of Twin Peaks Central Council) said that the 1987 MOU for UCSF was great because it forced UCSF to develop land in Mission Bay and Dogpatch for greater hospital capacity.

Hmm, this tune sounds awfully familiar.